Well, you sure got me with those two, George. A mosquito could sit in Carnegie Hall during a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth and in a sense hear the music but it wouldn’t mean the same thing. Seriously, George, don’t you think the experience, whether music or sex, probably is different comparing one species to the other?

Seriously, after all this time, that’s the best you can come up with?

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I cannot in good conscience support CFI under the current leadership. I am here in dissent and in support of a Humanism that honors and respects everyone.

No, mosquito will not listen to Beethoven, but it will bother to have sex. And of course the sex experience will be different for different species, since their mechanism is different. I really have no idea what you’re talking about…

I fear the agnostics are doomed to fail in such violent confrontations, as they would be philisophically bound to rig their IED’s to have only a possible chance of going off.

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As a fabrication of our own consciousness, our assignations of meaning are no less “real”, but since humans and the fabrications of our consciousness are routinely fraught with error, it makes sense, to me, to, sometimes, question such fabrications.

Interesting, I’ve been told time after time that married people with kids live longer then people who aren’t married with no kids. Well for me being married and having kids would be one of the worst things that could happen to me and I wouldn’t be happy at all. If dying sooner is the price I have to pay to be married free and most important child-free then Im very happy to die sooner.

Very interesting discussion here from a Scientific American Mind article.

Can Atheists Be Happy? Being religious confers big benefits. Time and again, studies have shown that people who have a religious faith are more likely to be healthy and happy than those who lack one. Religious people may even live longer. Go to church and you could outlive your atheist friends by a good seven years, as we report in this issue (see “Healthy Skepticism,” by Sandra Upson). Yet doctors don’t counsel patients to take up Christianity, say, as a way of beating back mental or physical distress. Even if such advice were socially acceptable, it wouldn’t work. Most people can’t just go out and find religion if the idea hadn’t resonated with them before. But finding out the secret ingredients behind religion’s powerful effects might reveal something that could be prescribed.

Basically I think I agree with the general idea. It’s not believing in a deity that confers benefits but possibly more about group identity and support. Which we need more of.

There haven’t been enough atheists surveyed to be able to tell who is happier. First you have to define what happiness is. Cocaine addicts are “happy” too, probably happier than Christians when they’re high. What does that have to say about happiness? It’s easy to be “happy” when you’re deluded. There is a lot in this world and this life that only a fool would claim to be happy about. Deluding yourself that everything is going to be all right, is not happiness, it’s a form of insanity that prevents you from understanding what is actually going on around you.

No, mosquito will not listen to Beethoven, but it will bother to have sex. And of course the sex experience will be different for different species, since their mechanism is different. I really have no idea what you’re talking about…

How do you know mosquitoes will not listen to Beethoven? How about Wagner. It"s really good dive-bombing music.

No, mosquito will not listen to Beethoven, but it will bother to have sex. And of course the sex experience will be different for different species, since their mechanism is different. I really have no idea what you’re talking about…

How do you know mosquitoes will not listen to Beethoven? How about Wagner. It"s really good dive-bombing music.

Lois

As a matter of fact many insects produce music, specifically erotic music to attract mates. Just listen to the symphony of life when you pay attention.

Submarine organisms are especially tuned in to “sound” in one form or another. Whales communicate in chordal structures and might truly appreciate Beethoven.

I remember reading some studies a couple decades ago that concluded people of below average intelligence are happier than smart people.

Interesting study, Darron. We’ve come up with a generally accepted way of measuring intelligence (quality of thought) as differentiated with the quantity of thought. (Yeah, that might not be accurate, but go with me). I wonder if there is also a differentiation between quality and quantity of happiness.

In other words, could it be that less intelligent people have a greater quantity of happiness than intelligent ones, but intelligent people have a higher quality of happiness?

Geez, this kind of flight of fancy should probably be in the philosophy forum.